Question:
we're opening up the worship team to more people soon, to get more recruits and all, so the past 2 weeks we've had a sign up sheet in the back. so far we have 3 vocalists, keyboardist, electric/lead, lead acoustic, and a drummer, its not bad. i was looking at the sign up sheet when i saw someone who wanted to play the saxaphone i love saxes and all, they're smooth, sexy and whatnot. problem is.. I HAVE NO IDEA HOW TO INCORPORATE A SAX IN contemporary worship!!!! we play stuff like united, chris tomlin, crowder, you know the rest, but i really dont know how to do this. i appreciate his wanting to join the worship team and all, but im afraid im going to have to tell him that it can't be done. any suggestions?
Answer:
though i disliked it, we had a soprano sax in one of our groups. He would play licks just like a guitar, basically another "lead" instrument
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Have you talked to the saxophonist? Maybe they have ideas on how they can fit in.
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You've never heard Justo Almario, have you? You'll find him on any Tommy Walker record and dozens of other Gospel and CCM artist's discs so I encourage you to search him out and listen. You'll hear one of the most anointed musicians ever. A true worshipper if there ever was one.
A good saxophonist will know how to fit in regardless of the style of music you're playing. At least that's been my experience.
Maybe, just maybe, YOU will be the one to experience growth by allowing this new instrumentalist to play with you. Why not invite them to a personal one-on-one jam with you? That's what I do with most of my new musicians just to see where they're at musicially and spiritually before I introduce them to the big team in a time-is-of-the-essence rehearsal setting.
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We use a sax player and he flat gets on it.
Listen to his brief solo breakout in one of our songs off of our "Welcome to the Neighborhood" CD. He comes in after the electric guitar breakout.
Walk By Faith
The key is for them to be able to play without sheet music. Our guy will ask what key the tune is in, maybe glance over the chord chart for a few minutes, and then he just improvises within the key signature. He improvises around the chords just like a bass player would.
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we have a guy in the adult worship team who plays the flute. When he plays he improvises everything. It's amazing and it adds a whole other level of excellence to the sound
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One of our guitarists/vocalists is also a talented sax player. He's pretty new to the band, so he's only played the sax in a service once. He definitely didn't have any problem making his thing work well with the music, though.
I think, like others have said, you need to get a sense for the saxophonist's playing and I'm sure that the saxophonist will have ideas as well...
Nate
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Whether or not it will work is totally a matter of whether or not he can make it work. It's not up to you to come up with a plan to make it work. That's his job. If he can make it work, then it's your decision whether or not you want the sax. If he can't, then don't try to do it for him.
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I can't see a saxophone work with the way my church does worship. I just can't. It's not that I don't like the saxophone, it's just that I can't see how it would add value to what we are already doing.
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My brother in law plays sax at his church. He has played at a couple of combined meetings and it is so awesome. He is very talented at it which helps but it just ads so much to the sound. We also play United, Chris Tomlin etc.
It is like having another lead instrument in terms of playing fills etc, but it adds so much more to your avaliability to do instrumentals etc.
The thing to remember is, you don't neccesarly want the sax playing the whole of everyone song. If you have plenty of other instruments ioncorportae the sax into the parts of the songs which will really add to the songs.
Seriously i would be really happy if we had someone willing to play sax for worship.
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My parents go to a vineyard church that has an excellent worship team-- they always have a brass band playing with the regular team around Easter, and they often have a girl who plays the flute. Their drummer also plays the clarinet with them, sometimes! It's an interesting mix, but they pull it off very well.
I would just tell the musician in question that you don't really know how to work a saxophone into the regular worship team, but... if they feel they can figure it all out on their own, invite them to a few practices. They can play with the band during the practices to see how it works out-- and if they feel overwhellmed, they don't have to play. And if it works out-- great!
One thing I would keep in mind, though, is how a sax would fit into your usual worship style-- if you're more of a traditional service, a saxophone would be more difficult to work into than, say, a Tommy Walker-esque worship team. Brass instruments usually sound best when played loudly and strongly, so if you have a piano and a guitar in a smaller sized chapel, it might overpower the vocals and other instruments. Also, you won't really want the sax playing all through every song. Special instruments (like brass or woodwinds or violins and the like) have a great impact when they're used sparingly and effectively. If this musician does join your team, keep an eye out for songs that you couldn't previously really pull of to the greatest effect, but would sound amazing with the added punch of a saxophone. Encourage the musician to develop an ear for when to let off (gradual intros, softer songs, etc) and when to really go for it (song climaxes, BIG intros, etc).
I really hope this whole situation works out well for you all! Let us know how it goes...!
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I was in a worship band once, where the *leader* was a sax player. She knew her stuff, and it went very well. The sax mostly took the lead guitar parts (because I couldn't play guitar well enough), and the biggest problem was having too much fun in practice, and not getting to work.
We didn't have the sax on every song, just one or two during the worship set, and it was beautiful.
As for working one into an already existing band, I think that it all depends on the skill level of the sax player. The lady in our band had been a professional, and she could play ANYTHNING. If you have someone who can't play very well, then that's a different story all together.
Hope this helps.
--Katze
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sax goes with everything, contemp or traditional. Tenor is the most useful I think. A little soprano goes a long way and can easily be over done.
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Listen to some Dave Matthews Band...
The main thing is that all the players need to be tasteful. It helps if you can suggest to a sax player what to do, but if they don't know how to play their instrument tastefully in the context of your music, then you probably shouldn't even bother trying to incorporate it in.
Improvisation is essential, it'll greatly help if the saxophonist has a jazz background.
You should see if he plays flute, too. If not, you could ask him to learn it, if he's proficient enough in the worship context. Different colors for different songs, and such.
Answer:
Hi Crazy C...
I'd see what kinds and how many Saxs he has, and see if he plays any other wind instruments.
Saw a band with a ''wind-stick'' player. It looked like a clarinet and it was a midi-controller, so he played everything from the wind family - sax, oboe, flute, piccalo, and even bass on one number (for fun).
The guy was good, and very versatile. A sax or flute player by themselves on a team for me are like a fiddle player...I don't want them noodling through every piece and not contributing, and I tend to arrange sparsely for them.
I do feature them once in a while, but unless the player is flexible and can improvise, it makes for long rehearsals for them (lots of sitting with not much playing).